This is the ninth of ten parts of the sci.crypt FAQ. The parts are
mostly independent, but you should read the first part before the rest.
We don't have the time to send out missing parts by mail, so don't ask.
Notes such as ``[KAH67]'' refer to the reference list in the last part.
The sections of this FAQ are available via anonymous FTP to rtfm.mit.edu
as /pub/usenet/news.answers/cryptography-faq/part[xx]. The Cryptography
FAQ is posted to the newsgroups sci.crypt, talk.politics.crypto,
sci.answers, and news.answers every 21 days.
Contents:
9.1. What is the National Security Agency (NSA)?
9.2. What are the US export regulations?
9.3. What is TEMPEST?
9.4. What are the Beale Ciphers, and are they a hoax?
9.5. What is the American Cryptogram Association, and how do I get in touch?
9.6. Is RSA patented?
9.7. What about the Voynich manuscript?
9.1. What is the National Security Agency (NSA)?
The NSA is the official communications security body of the U.S.
government. It was given its charter by President Truman in the early
50's, and has continued research in cryptology till the present. The
NSA is known to be the largest employer of mathematicians in the world,
and is also the largest purchaser of computer hardware in the
world. Governments in general have always been prime employers of
cryptologists. The NSA probably possesses cryptographic expertise many
years ahead of the public state of the art, and can undoubtedly break
many of the systems used in practice; but for reasons of national
security almost all information about the NSA is classified.
Bamford's book [BAMFD] gives a history of the people and operations of
the NSA. The following quote from Massey [MAS88] highlights the
difference between public and private research in cryptography:
``... if one regards cryptology as the prerogative of government,
one accepts that most cryptologic research will be conducted
behind closed doors. Without doubt, the number of workers engaged
today in such secret research in cryptology far exceeds that of
those engaged in open research in cryptology. For only about 10
years has there in fact been widespread open research in
cryptology. There have been, and will continue to be, conflicts
between these two research communities. Open research is common
quest for knowledge that depends for its vitality on the open
exchange of ideas via conference presentations and publications in
scholarly journals. But can a government agency, charged with
responsibilities of breaking the ciphers of other nations,
countenance the publication of a cipher that it cannot break? Can
a researcher in good conscience publish such a cipher that might
undermine the effectiveness of his own government's code-breakers?
One might argue that publication of a provably-secure cipher would
force all governments to behave like Stimson's `gentlemen', but one
must be aware that open research in cryptography is fraught with
political and ethical considerations of a severity than in most
scientific fields. The wonder is not that some conflicts have
occurred between government agencies and open researchers in
cryptology, but rather that these conflicts (at least those of which
we are aware) have been so few and so mild.''
9.2. What are the US export regulations?
In a nutshell, there are two government agencies which control
export of encryption software. One is the Bureau of Export
Administration (BXA) in the Department of Commerce, authorized by
the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Another is the Office
of Defense Trade Controls (DTC) in the State Department, authorized
by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). As a rule
of thumb, BXA (which works with COCOM) has less stringent
requirements, but DTC (which takes orders from NSA) wants to see
everything first and can refuse to transfer jurisdiction to BXA.
The newsgroup misc.legal.computing carries many interesting
discussions on the laws surrounding cryptographic export, what
people think about those laws, and many other complex issues which
go beyond the scope of technical groups like sci.crypt. Make sure to
consult your lawyer before doing anything which will get you thrown in
jail; if you are lucky, your lawyer might know a lawyer who has at
least heard of the ITAR.
9.3. What is TEMPEST?
TEMPEST is a standard for electromagnetic shielding for computer
equipment. It was created in response to the discovery that
information can be read from computer radiation (e.g., from a CRT) at
quite a distance and with little effort.
Needless to say, encryption doesn't do much good if the cleartext
is available this way.
9.4. What are the Beale Ciphers, and are they a hoax?
(Thanks to Jim Gillogly for this information and John King for
corrections.)
The story in a pamphlet by J. B. Ward (1885) goes: Thomas
Jefferson Beale and a party of adventurers accumulated a huge mass
of treasure and buried it in Bedford County, Virginia, leaving
three ciphers with an innkeeper; the ciphers describe the
location, contents, and intended beneficiaries of the treasure.
Ward gives a decryption of the second cipher (contents) called B2;
it was encrypted as a book cipher using the initial letters of the
Declaration of Independence (DOI) as key. B1 and B3 are unsolved;
many documents have been tried as the key to B1.
Aficionados can join a group that attempts to solve B1 by various
means with an eye toward splitting the treasure:
The Beale Cypher Association
P.O. Box 975
Beaver Falls, PA 15010
You can get the ciphers from the rec.puzzles FAQL by including the
line:
send index
in a message to netlib@peregrine.com and following the directions.
(There are apparently several different versions of the cipher
floating around. The correct version is based on the 1885 pamphlet,
says John King <kingj@hpcc01.corp.hp.com>.)
Some believe the story is a hoax. Kruh [KRU88] gives a long list of
problems with the story. Gillogly [GIL80] decrypted B1 with the DOI
and found some unexpected strings, including ABFDEFGHIIJKLMMNOHPP.
Hammer (president of the Beale Cypher Association) agrees that this
string couldn't appear by chance, but feels there must be an
explanation; Gwyn (sci.crypt expert) is unimpressed with this
string.
9.5. What is the American Cryptogram Association, and how do I get in touch?
The ACA is an organization devoted to cryptography, with an emphasis
on cryptanalysis of systems that can be attacked either with
pencil-and-paper or computers. Its organ ``The Cryptogram'' includes
articles and challenge ciphers. Among the more than 50 cipher types in
English and other languages are simple substitution, Playfair,
Vigenere, bifid, Bazeries, grille, homophonic, and cryptarithm.
Dues are $20 per year (6 issues) for new members, $15 thereafter; more
outside North America; less for students under 18 and seniors. Send
checks to ACA Treasurer, P.O. Box 198, Vernon Hills, IL 60061-0198.
9.6. Is RSA patented?
Yes. The patent number is 4,405,829, filed 12/14/77, granted 9/20/83.
For further discussion of this patent, whether it should have been
granted, algorithm patents in general, and related legal and moral
issues, see comp.patents and misc.legal.computing. For information
about the League for Programming Freedom see [FTPPF]. Note that one of
the original purposes of comp.patents was to collect questions such as
``should RSA be patented?'', which often flooded sci.crypt and other
technical newsgroups, into a more appropriate forum.
9.7. What about the Voynich manuscript?
The Voynich manuscript is an elaborately lettered and illustrated
document, in a script never deciphered. It has been handed down for
centuries by a line of art collectors and has uncertain origination.
Much speculation and attention has been focused on its potential
meaning.
nelson@reed.edu (Nelson Minar) says there is a mailing list on the
subject. The address to write to subscribe to the VMS mailing list
is: <voynich-request@rand.org>
the ftp archive is: ftp://rand.org/pub/
There's all sorts of information about the manuscript itself, of
course. A good bibliography can be found on the ftp site. [KAH67]
gives a good introduction.

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